Adolescents who watch a lot of television are more likely to develop sleeping problems than those who watch less, researchers said Monday.
Forty million Americans have chronic sleeping problems such as difficulty falling asleep or fitful sleeping, and the authors of an eight-year study of 759 families said the roots of the problem may be too much TV.
Cut viewing time
“A variety of factors, including heightened alertness, physiological arousal, the frightening or traumatic content of some television programs, bright television light, and physical inactivity associated with extensive television viewing may all contribute to difficulty falling or staying asleep,” wrote study author Jeffrey Johnson of the New York State Psychiatric Institute at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
The study, published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that three hours or more of television viewing each day at age 14 was associated with difficulty sleeping in early adulthood.
Sleeping habits improved in cases where the subjects cut their TV viewing time to an hour or less per day by age 16.